title: Study on chemical fingerprinting of crude and processed Atractylodes macrocephala from different locations in Zhejiang province by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with hierarchical cluster analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In China, Atractylodes macrocephala is mainly distributed in Zhejiang province. It is, therefore, desirable to determine a reliable and accurate methodology to differentiate the samples collected from Zhejiang province. Although some studies on the fingerprints of Atractylodes macrocephala using HPLC have been published, none of them compared the processed product of Atractylodes macrocephala from different areas of Zhejiang province.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) coupled with hierarchical cluster analysis was employed in the fingerprint analysis of Atractylodes macrocephala from Zhejiang province, China. The LC assay was performed on a reversed-phase C18 column with linear gradient elution using water and acetonitrile. The LC data showed considerable variation of chemical constituents among Atractylodes macrocephala populations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  21 and 22 characteristic peaks in the 14 grants of Atractylodes macrocephala and its processed product were determined in samples from different habitats of Zhejiang province, respectively. Their chromatographic patterns were generally consistent although their contents of chemical compositions were greatly different. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis showed that the samples could be divided into four groups; it was able to select excellent resources from the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This was the first report of hierarchical cluster analysis of crude and processed Atractylodes macrocephala according to their chemical fingerprints and could be applied to the intrinsic quality control of crude and processed Atractylodes macrocephala. The processing technique of Atractylodes macrocephala through the pilot-scale experiment was first studied and is simple and suitable for prepared yin pian of Atractylodes macrocephala industrial manufacture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chinese Materia Medica, College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing - 210046, People's Republic of China ; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing - 210029, People's Republic of China ; National First-Class Key Discipline for Science of Chinese Materia Medica, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing - 210046, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Sucai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yajing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Xiaoqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Kunming
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Baochang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cai
keywords: Atractylodes macrocephala; chemical fingerprinting; hierarchical cluster analysis; high-performance liquid chromatography; processed